if I did not have power to the ECU, the car would not start at all, yes?

I'm not super familiar with the CIS-E system or the ECU that MB used in this era... I'm much more familiar with EFI BMWs. How would I go about checking this?

MTI - responded to you on mbworld as well, but wouldn't a compression problem be evident in the entire revband?

The valve clearances were WAY off when I did the adjustment, but all adjusted to within spec with very similar sizes on intake/exaust, respectively, indicating that the seats are wearing evenly...